Bhavish Aggarwal mirrors Elon Musk, asks employees to list out accomplishments weekly: Report

Bhavish Aggarwal, founder of Ola Group, in a move similar to tech billionaire Elon Musk, has reportedly asked his employees to list out what they accomplished in a week. Aggarwal has asked all his employees in a mail to submit a weekly report.

According to a report in CNBC TV18, Aggarwal sent an internal mail titled ‘Kya Chal Raha Hai?’, meaning ‘what’s going on’. He asked his employees to send a report listing in 3-5 bullet points all of their completed tasks. The report stated that he asked his employees to send the mail to their managers and a dedicated company email with no exceptions. 

The reports must be filed every Sunday, he said. “We're starting 'Kya Chai Raha Hai?' — a simple way to share your weekly updates directly with me and your managers, starting today. Please send a brief update to your manager and Kyachalrahahai@olagroup. in with 3-5 bullet points about what you got done last week. Keep it simple and to the point. Use the email subject: 'Weekly updates'. The deadline for this is today end of day. Going forward, we will expect the email before Sunday end of day. Everyone has to send this, no exceptions,” Aggarwal’s message stated as per the report.

Aggarwal’s mail comes amid reports of layoffs in Ola Electric of as many as 1,000 employees. It is the company’s second lay-off round in five months, the last being in November.

Ola’s move replicates a controversial policy introduced by Musk, who in his role in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) asked all federal employees to submit weekly reports on their accomplishments. The policy was framed to increase accountability and reduce inefficiency. 

In December, Aggarwal had sent a mail to his employees warning them of poor attendance and said anyone with self-respect would not fleece the company by not even turning up for work. He added that the company does not have a WFH policy except for genuine needs.

“And those of you who have misused the freedom so far, HR will be having a conversation with you.  The best excuse I've heard so far is that the facial recognition system data is wrong.  Let's not insult basic intelligence. Come to work, do good work and feel a part of Ola's mission," he had said.